Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth - Wicked (2003 Original Broadway Cast)
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Free Music Notes for Wicked (2003 Original Broadway Cast)
Free Music Review: Incredible - 4.5 Stars
Hit: 5 Stars
I read and loved the novel, and have yet to see the play, but the soundtrack is fabulous on its own. Although it may not have the best vocals you can find in a Broadway performance, and some of the lyrics are a bit awkward at parts, the orchestra completely makes up for it all. Plus, the songs are terribly catchy, and will play in your head for days, maybe weeks, after you listen to the soundtrack a couple of times. And now for the song by song breakdown:
No One Mourns the Wicked - As with all the songs on this CD, the orchestra is amazing. The beginning isn't my favorite, because Chenoweth (Glinda) is singing in the style of Glinda in the movie. You know; high and uninterpretable. It gets much better through the middle though.
Dear Old Shiz - Short and sweet. Not a huge hit when compared with the other tracks, but the vocals are nice, and the story it tells is important.
The Wizard and I - Menzel (Elphaba) is wonderful in this song, although I dislike all of Shelley's (Madame Morrible)parts. Again, the story is important.
What is this Feeling? - Hilarious! The orchestra, again, is fantastic. The lyrics are funny, and the vocals are perfect for the song. I believe there is one spot where the harmony is off by a little bit, but this song will be stuck in your head for forever. This is one of my favorites.
Something Bad - Youmans (Doctor Dillamond) has a nice voice, if you will pardon the goat sounds. Again, Menzel shines in this song.
Dancing Through Life - First off, a bit of extra opinion here, but Butz (Fiyero) has an incredibly sexy voice. Apart from that, the vocals are fantastic, the lyrics are funny and slightly philosophical, and the music changes are great. I love this song.
Popular - One word: Fantastic. Popular is incredibly catchy, and very well done on Chenoweth's part.
I'm Not That Girl - Sweet and sad. The orchestra, however, is the saving grace of this song.
One Short Day - Very catchy, and of course, important to the story.
A Sentimental Man - Grey's (The Wizard) vocals are alright. But this isn't one of the best songs on the album.
Defying Gravity - Probably one of my all-time favorites of this album. If you know the story, you know how sad it is. The music is incredible, the vocals wonderful, lyrics are incredible and memorable, and the story is heart breaking. My favorite part: "So if you care to find me, look to the western sky".
Thank Goodness - If Shelley hadn't had a part in the middle of this song, I would really like it. I always fast forward past that part. The rest of the song is really good. At the end you'll be thinking 'Poor Glinda'.
Wonderful - The best of Grey's songs.
I'm Not That Girl (Reprise) - Better with Chenoweth singing it. The music is superb.
As Long As You're Mine - So incredibly sweet. The vocals are fabulous, the music better. This song deserves being set on repeat.
No Good Deed - My favorite track on the entire album. Menzel pulls off the bitterness and longing perfectly. It's a tragic song and gives you an insight into Elphaba's mind. The music, especially the bass beats at the end, is spectacular.
March of the Witch Hunters - An okay song. The background singers are best.
For Good - Very sad. Pretty good. I've heard it's better live. Personally, I think it's too hard to follow up As Long As You're Mine and No Good Deed.
Finale - Good music of course. Not incredibly important, but still very good.
My advice: Buy this album. You definitely won't regret it. The songs are moving, funny, beautiful, and they all tell such a wonderful story. And I think the music is some of the best on Broadway that I've heard.
Free Music Review: Wicked well worth the time
Hit: 5 Stars
The "Wicked" Original Broadway Cast recording sparkles with energy and emotion, and features the original performers for whom the music was specifically written. The musical version of "Wicked" differs substantially from the original novel by Gregory Maguire but the altered storyline, in which the minor character of Glinda the Good in the novel is elevated to co-star status in the musical, becomes a story of the friendship between two young women and the sacrifices they must make to be true to their ideals.
While this makes the musical story completely different than the book it is arguably more compelling than the actual novel, as evidenced by the show's runaway success on Broadway, Chicago and on national tour. Add composer Stephen Schwartz's best work since "Pippen" 30 years ago and the result is a show that IMO is easily as enjoyable as "Les Miserables" and far more gripping than "Phantom of the Opera" or "Miss Saigon."
Schwartz introduces the dramatic "Wicked Witch" theme (a six chord progression whose unspoken lyrics purportedly are "oh no, the witch is here") in the first moments of the overture and recalls it chillingly again moments later when it becomes apparent at the Wicked Witch's birth that something is horribly wrong. Then, when the young Witch is finally united with her true love in the second act, the love theme utilizes the exact same chord progression, but now set in a compelling ostinato figure that underscores the urgency and desperation of their fleeting moment together. The Hindemith-like antiphony of "No One Mourns the Wicked" both jars us and serves to clue us into realizing that something's not quite right during the "Ding-Dong the Witch is Dead"-like opening celebration number.
The hopeful yet tragic "Unlimited" theme arcs through the story and is a clever homage to the "Wizard of Oz" movie score, using the same first seven notes as "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and then diverging. Schwartz noted in interviews that he chose to use only the first seven notes as an inside joke because copyright laws specifically define eight notes as the point where infringement on someone else's tune occurs.
The music of "Wicked" is for the most part completely dependent on the context of the musical and the individual numbers do not stand alone well, but Ms. Chenowith's "Popular" and Ms. Menzel's legitimate showstopper "Defying Gravity" are justifiably acclaimed, and the de facto finale "For Good" is already available on Amazon on two other non-Broadway recordings, one of which features the composer singing half of the duet himself.
The aforementioned love song "As Long as You're Mine" also has to be heard in the context of the story to be fully appreciated; the audience at this point in the musical has been taken on a journey from the apparent celebration of the witch's demise at the beginning to the show 180 degrees to where we now understand her character and motivations to where from "Defying Gravity" onwards we are actually cheering for the witch to succeed; by the time this duet comes along near the end of the second act, the witch and her true love are being hunted across the land and we already know that our heroine is doomed to melt (and soon!) at the hands of a certain Kansas farmgirl, lending the lyrics and chord progressions, maudlin at best out of context, tremendous pathos and power akin to "The Fall of Saigon" and "The Last Night of the World" in "Miss Saigon." Only when you see the musical do you understand why Schwartz chose Fiyero's otherwise jarring verse "Maybe I'm brainless, maybe I'm wise."
"Wicked" is well worth your time but you'll enjoy it infinitely more once you also see the show, and the show itself is well worth a weekend trip to the nearest city staging a production to see it.
Free Music Review: Awesome Adaptation
Hit: 5 Stars
Needless to say, I was very skeptical to hear that Gregory Maguire's brilliant novel, "Wicked," was going to become a Broadway musical. I couldn't think of many novels less suited for it. Put simply, "Wicked" tells the life story of the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" -- all the way from the moment she's born until the moment Dorothy throws that bucket of water. In his book, Maguire took this premise and created a dark masterpiece of fantasy where the "wonderful" land of Oz was revealed as an angry and unsettling place rife with bigotry, religious persecution, and social unrest -- in short, a world not unlike our own. It was not a book for children, but it did have some serious things to say about good and evil, namely, are they merely illusions? Does evil come from who we are, or what we do, or neither? Do we need wickedness just as much as we need goodness?
A Broadway musical, of course, must have a straightforward story, broad characters, and be family-friendly. Stephen Schwartz's adaptation of "Wicked" leaves much out and smoothes over the R-rated aspects of the story. The basic plot is still there: this is the tale of Elphaba, born with unnaturally green skin, shunned by her parents and the world. Sent off to a private academy, she meets Galinda, a spoiled and shallow upper-class girl who at first hates Elphaba, then becomes her unlikely best friend. The plot reveals how the duo are drawn in by the seductive power of the Wizard, and how their paths split: Galinda becomes Glinda, the beloved Good Witch of the North, and Elphaba is shaped by ambition, tragedy, and bitterness into the Wicked Witch we all know and fear.
I can forgive the plot changes, just because the music is so good. Schwartz's songs are seminal Broadway: powerful, moving, funny, sad, and bold. Kristen Chenoweth makes Galinda wonderfully funny and obnoxious without turning her into a stereotype, and Idina Menzel gives the performance of her life as Elphaba. Joel "Cabaret" Grey is pitch-perfect as the dotty Wizard, and the other supporting actors hit all the right notes (my one complaint: the character of Fiyero, the love interest, is way too changed from the book. They should've resisted the urge to turn him into a generic Broadway hunk). And the songs? Well, there's the towering overture, followed by the equally towering opening number, "No One Mourns the Wicked." Then there's the hilarious "What Is This Feeling?" which sends up all those clichéd "eternal friendship" songs in a duet of total and complete hatred. "Dancing Through Life" is one of those great seize-the-moment numbers that make you feel young again. There's the goofy "Popular," the Vaudevillian "One Short Day," and the stellar Act I closer, "Defying Gravity," which is worth the price of the CD (Menzel's final high note blew me out of my seat). Grey gets his moment in the spotlight with the Wizard's song, "Wonderful." Menzel and Norbert Leo Butz have an erotically-charged love duet with "As Long as You're Mine." Chenoweth and Menzel reveal the true depths of friendship in "For Good," and then comes the surprisingly sad finale. If Elphaba's story reminds people of Anakin Skywalker, well, the debate about what makes evil has been going on for ages. "Wicked" may not end the debate, but at least it shows that "good" and "wicked" are just words, labels, and everything is more complicated than it seems.
I'm glad "Wicked" won the Tony, because it's a triumph. The plot is simplified, but the spirit of the book is still there, and I only hope it will make people a little wiser. And did I mention that Idina Menzel is AWESOME??? "Wicked" gets top marks.
Free Music Review: The musical with heart.
Hit: 5 Stars
This is truly an incredible experience. I'm a huge musical fan - having seen and listened to many over the years. However, never before have I cared so much about the characters and story as I have come to for this musical. This, however, is a recording best suited to those who have seen the show - all the dialogue is cut out, along with one song, in order to keep people from being spoiled. The result is just the songs without the story to string them together - leaving people thinking there IS no story in between, which is absolutely untrue. Go find a description, go see the show, and then you're more likely to understand.
Of course, it's still entirely possible to fall in love with the musical by listening to the songs on this CD. I fell for it after coming across "No Good Deed" purely by accident. I became addicted, and had it on repeat from then on - the emotion and power that Idina Menzel puts into her performance is absolutely captivating. It remains my favorite song on the CD.
Something also interesting is the powerful, dark undertones in the music - in the love song, "As Long As You're Mine", a pounding, stirring theme keeps it from being a typical cheesy ballad often found in musicals. Instead you are left with a feeling of awe, of a power hidden just beneath the surface.
The songs, rather than being pieces of abstract beauty that you listen to and appreciate but not identify with, hit closer to home. They deal with everyday frustration, hope, silliness, love, that you can understand and feel. Ever had difficulties with a roommate? Try "What Is This Feeling?", which is a hilarious anti-love song. Ever felt ignored or not good enough? Go for the sweetly sad "I'm Not That Girl". How about having just hit a break, and feeling that your future is limitless? "The Wizard and I" captures that for you. It's not the beauty they're aiming for, it's the feeling, the emotion that you will remember.
How about just plain silliness? "Popular" will always brighten your day. And, of course, the wonderful, triumphant "Defying Gravity", in which your heart will soar along with Idina's glorious voice. Sure, there are forgettable songs on this soundtrack - but the true triumph of it is that the characters will endure. "No One Mourns the Wicked" is one of the most unique ways I have ever heard a musical opened, it pulls you from the first notes. "For Good", in it's delicate, loving beauty, is the perfect dedication to someone who has changed your life.
If you listen to musicals just to listen to pretty music, this may not be the right thing for you. If, however, you are looking for characters that will make you care and a world you will want to explore, definitely go for it.
Reading the book alongside the musical also serves to let you fall even more for these characters and their world. It's interesting, because the book, while wonderful, is much darker than the musical - and you can listen to the musical's songs after reading to perk you back up. Not to mention the voices of Menzel and Chenoweth will forever be Elphaba and Galinda in your mind.
It's been said that this does not have music as wonderful as some other musicals such as "Les Miserables", and this is true. However, the power in "Wicked's" music lies in it's story, in it's themes, and in the fact that by the time you reach the end, you'll want to hold on to them and make them stay. The music is just a nice companion.
See it. Listen to it. Read it. Do whatever you can - and be prepared to fall in love with Elphaba and keep her story in your heart. She's certainly become a part of mine.
Free Music Review: The Most ...WICKED... Show On 5 Stars
Let me Preface this review by saying that Wicked was robbed, robbed at the Tony's!!!!!I have seen Wicked three times. Once on Broadway, once in Chicago, and once in Denver Colorado, and I have come to the same conclusion each time. THIS SHOW IS F*ING AH-MAZING. From the moment you see Galinda/Glinda fly in on her bubble to the heart stoppign second Elphaba, The Wicked Witch, takes flight ending Act 1 of the show you are in love and nothing changes when the second act begins or ends, the show is incredible.
But this review isn't about the show it's about the Cast Album and let me say that it captures the feelings of the show perfectly. While Idena Menzel's booming voice is recieved better in the Gershwin theater than on this cd it is still amazing and the same goes for Kristin Chenoweth. This cd is full of amazing orchrastrations and wonderful lyrics, Cudos to Stephen Schwartz. While i like almost everysong on the cd i will do a breakdown so you can make your own decision
#1 No One Mournes the Wicked- A great opening song if not a bit long and Oper-ey at the end. 8/10
#2 Dear Old Shiz- This is one of the songs I dont like, but it is short and progresses the story. 4/10
#3 The Wizard and I- Amazing vocals from Menzel make this song one for the ages. 10/10
#4 What is This Feeling-Idena and Kristen blend well in this hurmors song about LOATHING. 9/10
#5 Somthing Bad- The other song I don't like. It's rather boring but again moves the story along so it's needed. 4/10
#6 Dancing Through Life- A big splashy show stopper is a little akward on the cd but still very enjoyable. 8/10
#7 Popular- Kristin's big number is fun, funny, and a standout. 10/10
#8 I'm Not That Girl-Again Idena shines though the song is a little dull. 8/10
#9 One Short Day- Another show stopper. Makes me want to spend one day in OZ 10/10
#10 A Sentimental Man- Short and Sweet. 6/10
#11 Defying Gravity- Inarguably the absolute best song on the album and in the show. Idena gives this song her all. the ending will have you almost in tears. 20/10
#12 Thank Goodness- Another kristen song, a little long but enjoyable. 9/10
#13 Wonderful-An explnation song, to spotlight Joel Grey's talent. 7/10
#14 I'm Not That Girl (Reprise)-The only reprise on the album. Same as above, but with Chenoweth singing this time. 8/10
#15 As Long as You're Mine-A truly intresting love song with a hint of longing. Norbert Leo Butz and Idena Menzel sound great together, better if you know the plot of the show. 9/10
#16 No Good Deed- Again Menzel belts it out in this song.
#17 March of the Witch Hunters- A short song that progresses the story, In the style of "The Mob Song from Beauty and the Beast". 6/10
#18 For Good- The final duet between the two heroins. A very heartfilled song, if not sappy, still great. 9/10
#19 Finale- Akward on cd, great on stage. 7/10
* The Wicked Witch of the East- this song isn't included on the cd because it is mostly talking and would give away too much of the plot.
All in all this is a great Broadway musical and a great cast recording. To all of those who thought that Avenue Q deserved to win over Wicked or The Boy from Oz you're entitled to you own opinions, but I think you're CRAZY and it's sucks to be you.